Proposed regulations would implement new penalty structure for T4 filing

Ottawa — The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has published draft regulations that would allow it to implement a graduated penalty structure for employers and payers who fail to file information returns such as the T4 over the Internet.

The federal government first announced the plan to implement a graduated penalty structure in the 2009 federal budget when it proposed lowering the requirement for mandatory electronic filing from 500 information returns to 50. The government amended the federal Income Tax Act in 2009 to incorporate the new penalty structure, but the CRA did not implement it because regulations under the Act had not yet been revised to change the filing requirement from 500 to 50.

Proposed regulations would implement the change to 50 information returns and also specifies that employers and payers must send the returns to the CRA over the Internet rather than by electronic filing.

The changes would apply to information returns required to be filed after 2013.

The draft regulations would also specify the types of returns affected by the change, including the T4, T4A, T4A-NR and NR4.

Once the draft regulations are finalized, the following penalties will apply to employers and payers who fail to file information returns by Internet File Transfer in XML format if they file more than 50 returns for a calendar year:

St. John’s, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador is proposing to add new unpaid leaves to the Labour Standards Act for employees who are parents.

One leave would allow eligible employees to take time off work to look after their critically ill child. The other leaves would allow eligible employees to take time off if their child has disappeared or died as a result of a suspected crime.

Details about the qualifications are proposed in Bill 17, an Act to Amend the Labour Standards Act. It had first reading in the provincial legislature on Nov. 19. At press time, the bill had not yet passed.

The increase in weekly earnings during the 12 months to September reflected a number of factors, including wage growth, changes in the composition of employment by industry, occupation and level of job experience, as well as average hours worked per week. Non-farm payroll employees worked an average of 33 hours per week in September, little changed from the average of 33.1 hours observed 12 months earlier.

Year-over-year earnings of non-farm payroll employees grew in eight provinces, with the growth above the national average in Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Alberta.